# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 07 13_S128
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

-ian Löhe" so contemptuously, as though only the Lutherans in Franconia were taking an interest in the Church in America? Oh no — with them our brothers in Mecklenburg, Saxony, Hanover, and other German lands have joined together, in order, so far as God grants grace, to preserve our Lutheran brethren in the faith in America from Methodist sectarian poison.

Accustomed as we are to finding in the "Apologist" the bitterest slanders against the Word and the Church of the Lord, it nevertheless astonished us that Mr. Köneke should scold the Lutheran Church and Pastor Franke as "Stephanites." We finally recalled that about eight years ago a Lutheran congregation deposed a pastor of this name, because it discovered his unchristian life and false doctrine. Pastor Franke is now vilified by Mr. Köneke as a "Stephanite" because he stayed for a few weeks with Pastor Walther, who chiefly brought about the deposition of that Stephan. By simple Christian teaching, such vilification would be the greatest injustice and malice — yet when the Methodists do it, it must be called the highest holiness. Suppose a Christian visited another Christian who eight years earlier had converted from heathenism and deposed his idol-priest — would a conscientious person revile the visitor as a heathen, because the one visited had once belonged to heathenism? Even natural reason, let alone Christian reason, recognizes the folly of such Methodist slanders. Or does Mr. Köneke mean that the pastors Walther and Franke teach a special, Stephanite Lutheranism? In that case let him only prove it, or we declare him an infamous liar and slanderer.

Hermann Fick.

(Submitted.)
Methodist Skulking About in Corners.

One example among many.

A German Methodist preacher heard, in the course of his circuit travels, that in my congregation there was a person under spiritual trial, and quite ill. Because he — like Methodist preachers in general — in his conceit considered only himself, and no Lutheran preacher, to be a preacher called by God, Christian, and born again, his fanatical spirit drove him, without further ado, to intrude into my congregation, in order, if at all possible, to make a Methodist saint out of this poor Lutheran sinner wrestling with death, and also to gain, on this occasion, further influence in my congregation.

The circumstances were favorable for the Methodist preacher; but the person already lying in the throes of death — she was an unmarried young woman — had learned, upon her long, heavy sickbed and in the hot hours of temptation, to heed the pure Word of God, of which she possessed a good knowledge, and the eternal truths of salvation were so firmly rooted in her heart that this Methodist fanatic could accomplish nothing with her. He received from her no other word than that she did not desire him and wanted to have nothing to do with him. So he had to sneak off again, like the fox from a well-guarded henhouse. The sick woman thereafter died blessedly, as a poor Lutheran sinner, firmly trusting in the merit and righteousness of her Savior. In the eyes of that Methodist preacher, she will of course have remained nothing other than a poor, lost Lutheran sinner.

From this everyone can see how finely the Methodist preachers conduct themselves according to God's Word. They intrude into another's office; and 1 Peter 4:15 says: "Let none of you suffer as one who meddles in the office of another." They creep about in people's houses; and 2 Timothy 3:6 says: "Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women." Thus they do it not one hair better than the Jesuits and their father, the devil. The blessed Dr. Luther speaks in his writing about the sneaks and corner-preachers from the year 1532: "And I say truly: even if such sneaks had no other misdeed to their name and were altogether saints, this alone — that they come creeping in without command and without being called — convinces one by force that they are the devil's messengers and teachers, for the Holy Spirit does not sneak, but flies openly down from heaven. Serpents creep, but doves fly. Therefore such a sneak's gait is the very gait of the devil; that never fails." See Jena ed., vol. V, col. 421.

Scholz,
Lutheran preacher near Nashville, Illinois.

To Which Weak Ones Should One Yield?

Luther writes: One must divide people into two groups. Some accept the Gospel but are still weak and cannot so quickly grasp their liberty; these hear the Gospel gladly and let themselves be instructed. Alongside them are some who will neither hear nor learn, and are stiff-necked; let them be preached to at length, and yet they remain hardened; against these one should act with defiance, and do everything that displeases them, so that one simply does not let them have their way in what they want. But toward those who hear the Gospel and neither deny nor reject it, you should make yourself equal, and see whether there are some among them who cannot yet grasp it, so that you accommodate yourself to them, since they are not striving against you. For their sake Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:13: "If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth." Yes, my brother, he says; for toward the others, who were not brothers but were opposed to him, he only acted contrary to them. If they want to do as they please, we too will do as we please; we have God's commandment concerning liberty, and whoever wishes to hinder or take that from us, against him we must set our heads firm, for these are not brothers but adversaries; were they brothers, they would not hinder our liberty. (Writing on the Use and Confession of Christian Liberty, 1524. Works, Halle ed., XIX, 1237.)

Decline and Decay in the Methodist Church.

According to the statement of one of the bishops in the Methodist Church, a decrease of two thousand members has taken place in the New York Conference alone in the past year.

But across the various conferences, a decrease of 50,000 results.

The same bishop also directs the attention of the church to a fact which he calls a distressing one. He uses the following language:

"Our rules require that those who are received as members into the church shall have experienced religion (in their hearts). Nevertheless, it is the practice in more than half of our congregations to receive persons as members who have experienced no change of heart. Presumably no fewer than 50,000 persons are in the church books whose names carry the letter 'S,' indicating that they are 'Seekers' and not believers."

(Christl. Zeitschr.)

Brotherly Reproof and Reconciliation.

On this Luther writes: "Forgiveness applies only where sin is acknowledged, and toleration of wrong applies only to those who wish to be enemies of the Word. But one must not tolerate the sins of brothers, but reprove them. Matt. 18:15–17. If they now wish to boast of being brothers, let them acknowledge their sin and let themselves be reproved. If they wish to defend their sin, let them simply declare themselves enemies, and then we will be content at once, and will suffer all things from them as 'enemies.' But from brothers it is not to be endured." (Luther's Works, Halle ed., XXI, 1233.)

As important as this now is, however, a Christian should not think that a great process of reconciliation must be undertaken over every "trifle." Against this, the Apology again says the following: If people are to be, or remain, in unity with one another, whether in the Church or also in worldly government, they must not weigh every fault against one another on a goldsmith's scale; they must let very much indeed pass by like water, and always give one another the benefit of the doubt as far as ever possible, having patience with one another in a brotherly way. (Art. 4, fol. 52b.)

Paid: 2nd half of Vol. 3 — Messrs. F. Bressmann, L. Krumme, J. P. Schulze.

1st half of Vol. 4 — Mr. J. P. Schulze.
Vol. 3 — W. Kauz, Pastor Romanowsky.
Vol. 4 — Dr. Sihler.

Mr. C. Thürwächter and J. C. Meyer through IV.22. Lisette Berning through IV.20.

Received for the Lutheran mission on the Cass River, Mich., through M. Wege from C. H. Cordes, $1.00.

Printed by Arthur Olshausen.